Featured Headlines

Los Angeles County will require masks to be worn indoors as Delta variant spreads – NYT

Los Angeles County announced Thursday that it will require masks to be worn inside regardless of vaccination status, as the highly contagious Delta variant spreads throughout California.

Delta Coronavirus Variant Caused 47 Person Outbreak At Gymnastics Facility – Forbes

A new CDC report has detailed how a 47 person Covid-19 outbreak in Oklahoma in spring was caused by the Delta SARS-CoV2 variant. The outbreak took place at a gymnastics facility and affected 23 gymnasts, 3 staff members, and 21 of their household contacts with the age range of infected people being between 5 and 58 years old.

Virus Trio Could Push U.K. Hospitals to Brink, Scientists Warn – Bloomberg

A mix of Covid-19, influenza and a respiratory virus common among children could push the U.K.’s National Health Service to the breaking point this winter, according to a new report.

As outbreak worsens, Thai temple inundated with coronavirus cremations – Reuters

Dressed in a saffron robe, Thai monk Pongpetch Santijittho, climbs into a white protective suit and sprays disinfectant on a pair of rubber boots. It is a ritual Pongpetch is going through daily at his temple in Pathum Thani on the outskirts of Bangkok, the epicentre of a wave of coronavirus infections that are killing dozens of people each day.

Why have COVID-19 cases suddenly surged in Australia? – MedNewsToday

Australia is trying its utmost to contain fresh outbreaks of COVID-19. Most of the country has entered into new snap lockdowns, as cases of the delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 spread across several cities. Darwin, Perth, and Brisbane emerged from lockdowns over the weekend.

Africa records a million new cases in a month, its fastest increase so far – NYT

The coronavirus is sweeping across Africa at a pace not seen before in the pandemic, the World Health Organization said on Thursday, highlighting the severity of a third wave driven by the spread of the Delta variant.

WHO warns of ‘strong likelihood’ of new, possibly more dangerous variants – ABC News

The World Health Organization warned Thursday that the surging COVID-19 pandemic in many parts of the world increases the likelihood that new, potentially dangerous variants may emerge in the future.

COVID deaths rise in Indonesia – Reuters

After his work as a taxi driver dried up because of Indonesia’s new coronavirus restrictions, Ardi Novriansyah offered his driving skills to help his home city’s buckling medical system.

As vaccinations slow in the U.S., the Delta variant is driving a rise in cases – NYT

Reports of new coronavirus cases are rising again across the United States, a discouraging trend fueled by the spread of the Delta variant and the sputtering vaccination campaign.

Melbourne joins Sydney in lockdown as COVID-19 spreads in Australia – Reuters

The Australian state of Victoria was ordered into a five-day lockdown on Thursday following a spike in COVID-19 infections, joining Sydney as the country’s two main population hubs battle an outbreak of the highly contagious Delta variant.

Vaccine Headlines

What You Need to Know About COVID-19 Booster Shots – Time

Public health experts including Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, stress that studies continue to show that the three vaccines currently authorized in the U.S. protect against COVID-19 disease, including against variants of the virus that are more transmissible. But as effective as the vaccines are, they can’t provide 100% immunity against disease. There is also early evidence that part of the immunity generated by the vaccines—specifically the antibodies created to stick to and block SARS-CoV-2 from infecting cells—could start to wane after about six months.

What’s New With Pfizer’s Covid-19 Vaccine? – Forbes

Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) has indicated that a third dose of its vaccine may be needed within six to 12 months after full vaccination, as initial immunity wanes and as new and more aggressive variants of the Coronavirus continue to spread. The company says that it has preliminary data to prove that an additional dose of its original mRNA vaccine BNT162b2 would “preserve the highest levels of protective efficacy.” Although the final call on a third dose will be taken by the U.S. FDA, which is waiting for more data, there appears to be a case for higher dosing.

Clinical Considerations

Long-term Symptoms After SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Children and Adolescents – JAMA

Children can experience SARS-CoV-2 postviral syndromes, but it is unclear to what extent these individuals are affected by long COVID. Evidence is predominantly limited to select populations without control groups,1-4 which does not allow estimating the overall prevalence and burden in a general pediatric population. We compared symptoms compatible with long COVID in children and adolescents (hereafter “children”) reported within 6 months after SARS-CoV-2 serologic testing.

COVID-19’s Effects on Kids Are Even Stranger Than We Thought – The Atlantic

Doctors have found a concerning link between the rare pediatric complication known as MIS-C and a syndrome related to tampon use. The U.S. fell short of its goal of giving at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to 70 percent of adults by July 4, but not by much. About two-thirds of everyone above the age of 18 had gotten a shot when the holiday arrived, with coverage among seniors surpassing even that benchmark. That leaves kids—mostly unvaccinated—as the Americans most exposed to the pandemic this summer, while the Delta variant spreads. It’s said that COVID-19 may soon be a disease of the young. If that’s what’s coming, then its effects on children must be better understood.

Half of Severe COVID Patients Developed New Medical Issues – MedPageToday

Nearly half of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 experienced at least one complication, researchers found in a prospective study.

There were 49.7% of patients overall who developed one or more COVID-19 complications, and 43.5% of survivors with a minimum of one complication, reported Ewen M. Harrison, MBChB, PhD, from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, and colleagues.

Psychological and Sociological Impact

See People’s Emotions as They Get Their COVID Vaccinations – Scientific American

On an overcast late April day in Newark, N.J., after more than a year of pandemic suffering, some 2,000 people queued up at a public college campus to start healing. Inside a hangar-style tennis facility at the New Jersey Institute of Technology that had been converted into a mass vaccination site, they came face to face with one of the most remarkable biomedical achievements in history: a safe and highly effective COVID vaccine designed and tested in a 10-month sprint in 2020. During that same period, while scientists were racing to develop this virus blocker, more than 300,000 Americans and nearly two million people worldwide died of COVID.

This is an article close to my heart! I am one of those new flower farmers! Here’s a pic of my harvest last week.